Walter Rosser Lecturer:

Dr. Mike Evans is a physician, professor, storyteller, and health innovator with a career built for what’s next in healthcare. His unique background includes 25 years in frontline family medicine, founding health media labs and a film company, and holding the first worldwide Chair in Patient Engagement at the University of Toronto.

Passionate about making complex health topics accessible to the public, he built a “Med School for the Public” at the University of Toronto and then scaled it on YouTube, where his videos have reached over 35 million “students”. He has been recognized for his work in JAMA, The Lancet, and BMJ. His contributions to science communication earned him the McNeil Medal from the Royal Society of Canada in recognition of his outstanding ability to promote and communicate science to the public.

As the creator of the "Doc Mike Evans" YouTube channel, Evans pioneered the use of evidence-based animated videos to explain medical topics to the public. His video "23 and 1/2 hours" has reached a wide audience and has been referenced in mainstream media. Evans's approach to translating complex health concepts into accessible advice has earned recognition from organizations such as the Canadian Medical Association and the Royal Society of Canada.

Evans has held academic and clinical roles, including leadership at the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute and faculty appointments at the University of Toronto. His work in preventative medicine and health communication led to his recruitment by Apple, where he contributed to Special Projects on the Health team. At Apple, Evans focused on integrating digital tools with traditional care, designing experiments to improve health outcomes for users worldwide. His efforts have supported the integration of apps and wearable technology into daily health decisions, extending the physician-patient relationship beyond the clinic.

Research Paper Presenter

Dr. Melissa Nutik is an academic family physician, clinician educator and Assistant Professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Toronto.  She received her MD degree from the University of Toronto and completed postgraduate training, an academic fellowship in medical education and a Masters of Education degree in higher education through the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto.  She practices comprehensive family medicine at the Mount Sinai Academic Family Health Team.  She teaches at the undergraduate, graduate, postgraduate, continuing professional and interprofessional development levels in her clinical office and at the University of Toronto.  She is a scholar at the Wilson Centre.  Dr. Nutik holds an appointment at the Office of Education Scholarship in the Department of Family and Community Medicine where she is the Undergraduate Education Scholarship Lead, Chair of the Education Scholarship Grants Committee, and a consultant and lead for the Better Together Education Scholarship Consultation Service.  Her academic and scholarly interests include medical education curriculum design and evaluation, in particular related to promoting generalism, interest in family medicine, and advocacy within medical school.  Other interests include developing and studying innovative ways to support people new to education scholarship.  

Research Paper Presenter

Notisha Massaquois currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Health and Society at the University of Toronto, Scarborough with cross appointments in the Faculty of Social Work and the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the Temerty Faculty of Medicine.   She is also the founder and Director of the Black Health Equity Lab (The BHEL) which conducts community-based health research and works with Black communities to develop advocacy tools, strategies and programs to improve health outcomes, wellbeing and success in Canadian systems.  During her early health leadership career, she helped establish several organizations which serve Black communities in Canada most notably serving for over two decades as the Executive Director of Women's Health in Women's Hands Community Health Centre in Toronto – the only Community Health Centre in North America specializing in primary healthcare for Black and racialized women.

Research Paper Co-presenter

Cynthia Whitehead, MD, PhD is Professor in the Family Doctor in the Department of Family and Community, University of Toronto Medicine; Director and Scientist at the Wilson Centre for Education Research, Temerty Faculty of Medicine and University Health Network. Her education research frequently uses historical analyses as a way to understand the present and consider future possibilities. 

Research Paper Co-presenter

Lucy Vorobej, PhD, is a historian and post-doctoral fellow at the Wilson Centre for Education Research, University Health Network and University of Toronto. Dr. Vorobej’s scholarship draws on a variety of subject areas within health history, focusing on the impact of racism and colonialism on health policy, gendered economics of care, and relationship-building in global education. Her most recent publications include a primer of historical research for family medicine education and a history of medical education in Japan. She is also currently publishing a book on the history of colonialism in Canadian health care. She is an active member of history of health care community in Canada with a growing presence in the health professions education research field at local and international levels.